The use of commercial drones has exploded across a number industries in recent years. Some have already been adapted to deliver pizzas, monitor endangered species and provide spectacular panoramic shots for film and journalistic purposes.
In a 2014 study from the aerospace industry specialists, the Teal Group, estimated that spending on UAVs would grow from the current $6.4 billion annually to $11.5 billion within the next decade—although much of these figures were accounted for by military spending.
Most of the fascination with civilian drones has focused on those that engage in free flight, orbiting or hovering over news according to commands given by their drone operators (“DROPs”), aided by onboard autonomous navigation systems.
However, free-flight drones have their risks. Whether it be hacking, loss of a signal, a line of coding gone wrong or the machine simply flying away, for a time he thought there was too much potential for failure. One of the main problems of UAV drones stem from their principle of control: if the radio signal is lost it may compromise the success of the mission.
Furthermore, under such conditions it may quickly become impossible to retrieve the equipment back, except for those scenarios when flying robotic platforms possess a capability to automatically track their way back home.
This issue is especially sensitive in the military and rescue operations where the signal may be jammed deliberately or lost due to signal attenuation behind thick walls or in under the piles of rubble. So what is the best way to overcome this apparent limitation?
Equipping drones with more powerful transceivers probably is not an option as any signal transmission requires power, and a stronger signal means quicker depletion of batteries. Also, stronger signals may cause interference with other electronic devices, while the technology itself is still not immune to even relatively simple electromagnetic jamming.
In the world of sports broadcasting they have been successfully employed to provide new, detailed coverage of fast-moving events taking place over a large area.
Broadcasts for the likes of surfing, skiing and sailing—all sports that are difficult for spectators to follow in detail from afar or in a stationary position—have benefited from the addition of spectacular aerial footage. However, the use of free-flight drones in such circumstances continues to suffer from the above drawbacks and problems.
In addition, typical drones have an on-board fuel storage. As such, FAA will not allow them to enter controlled airspace areas. Moreover, typical drones cannot remain in the air for a desirably lengthy time period because their fuel tanks can't store a suitable large quantity of fuel.
Typical aerostats are secured to an object/body on the ground by a tether. One end of the tether is attached to the aerostat and another end of the tether is attached to the object that is securely stationed on the ground. The tether holds the aerostat in place over a particular area. As known to one of ordinary skill in the art, an aerostat is not equipped with a propulsion device and a flight controller and, therefore cannot self-navigate over the particular area.
Using conventional aerostats for aerial photography and surveillance is difficult, because aerostats allow little operator control. Positioning the camera to maintain a picture frame is difficult as an aerostat position is affected by wind. The ability to maneuver and rotate an aerostat is limited. Shifting winds require repositioning of the aerostat and tether line to maintain a picture frame. Moreover, much operator effort is required to keep the tether line and other aerostat components from blocking or falling into the picture frame.
Therefore, a need exits for an electric tethered aerial platform (“ETAP”) that can remain in the air as long as desired while maintaining a desirable picture frame, provide data transmission in any of a number of modes such as radar, sonar, infra-red detection, surveillance and any other device or system that would benefit from being elevated.
There is also a need for an ETAP system comprising multiple sub-systems designed for the purposes of elevating a sensor, transmitter or other devices to altitudes higher than 20 feet and lower than 1500 feet for long-durations.
There is a further need for an ETAP to be capable of use in news gathering, sports viewing, extreme activity monitoring, surveillance in remote areas, information gathering such as a fire, a major vehicle accident, a natural disaster, or a police standoff, and such mundane, but important items as morning and evening rush time data and blockages.
The needs are numerous and may include it providing a ‘permanent stare’ that can be streamed. That can be useful to cover any event that unfolds over hours, days, or weeks.
There is also the need to provide a system that has the capability of streaming very high definition video in real time, completely secure from misappropriation, jamming, or spoofing.
There is a further need for an ETAP system and platform to provide optical and/or infrared and/or high definition sensor data for use in the following exemplary fields:
Search and rescue to ascertain, provide real time data related to and respond to: a) situational awareness of responder assets and position, b) determine location of survivors, c) mapping of passable roads, lanes.
Law enforcement to ascertain, provide real time data related to and respond to: a) crowd safety, b) hostage situation monitoring, c) warrant serving recon.
Military to ascertain, provide real time data related to and respond to: a) force protection: b) convoy escort, c) IED detection and suppression.
Commercial to ascertain, provide real time data related to and respond to: a) news gathering, b) energy infrastructure inspection, c) agriculture.